In 2015, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) - Strategic Intelligence Section released a summary report on the National Drug Threat Assessment (NDTA). Illegal drugs are a commodity that is commonly procured and peddled by criminal organizations. It is difficult to grow and process-controlled substances in the United States (US) though it is the region that presents the greatest market. Such operations have to happen in countries with a troubled legal system. The growing and processing of drugs, therefore, takes place in countries with an unstable legal framework by criminal factions that have international ties. It is important to look at the factions making and smuggling the drugs into the US for distribution before delving into the particular drugs causing a threat to US’s national security. According to the DEA 2015 report, the Mexican Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCO) are the leading criminal drug to the US. Their top drug of choice is heroin and controlled prescription drugs. The Sinaloa Cartel is one of the TCOs followed by Jalisco New Generation Cartel (Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación or CJNG) with the most expansive footprint in the United States (National Drug Threat Assessment, 2019). The Sinaloa cartel is responsible for the supply of fentanyl into the United States. Mexico TCOs have managed to increase their influence in Mexico giving them more power to be able to penetrate the US territories (Rabasa et al., 2017, p. 53). The 2015 NDTA report shows a map representation of the area covered by the Sinaloa cartel as the greatest. A breakdown in the rule of law in Mexico is a factor contributing to the rise of drug-related gangs in Mexico hence the driving power to smuggle drugs into the United States. Are these newly emerging threats or have they continued steadily over the past decade? Provide evidence to support your answer.
The threats posed by the Sinaloa Cartel, CJNG or any other gang to the US is not a new phenomenon. The threat posed by drug smuggling into the United States is a threat that has existed since Nixon’s administration. In 1971, President Nixon and his administration categorized heroin as the number one public enemy in the United States. The 1980s saw the introduction of cocaine, particularly crack cocaine and became a problem in Bush’s during Bush’s administration (Gerstein & Green, 1993, p. 9). To date, drug trafficking and drug abuse is still a national threat to the United States. The only difference is the gangs perpetrating the smuggling and the kind of drugs infiltrating into the country. For instance, cocaine used to be the greatest threat to the United States from the time it got introduced into the smuggling channels. Currently, heroin combined with fentanyl is the leading illicit drugs proliferating the United States borders. Most of the drugs coming into the United States is through the South-West border points controlled by the Sinaloa Cartel to the far west, the Juarez Cartel in the center, Los Zetas to the East and Gulf cartel to the far East of central America. In 2015 Los Zetas was the second-largest cartel in Mexico but that position has been assumed by Jalisco New Generation Cartel. During President Nixon’s administration, it became apparent that narcotics are America’s public enemy number one due to the rising number of crime and deaths related to drug use and overdose. The threat culminated into the formation of the DEA through an executive order in 1973. The main agenda for its formation was to establish a single unified command to battle with the drug and crime epidemic. It soon came to light that it was difficult to curtail the problem from within the United States as the genesis of their problem was mainly in Mexico. A country that was in political turmoil, corrupt and lacking a legal framework that would help combat the rising gangs and cartel in Mexico. One of the solutions was to formulate task forces between the American and Mexican government and authorities. At first, cohesion was difficult especially from the Mexican authorities as they felt their sovereignty is being eluded. Later, a drug war erupted in Mexico making cohesion between the two governments tantamount. The kind of cohesion that saw the downfall of Pablo Escobar’s Medellín Cartel in 1993. Such a win for the DEA gave the agency traction in the United States giving them respect among other security agencies like the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). It soon came to dawn to the United States that joint task forces between them and Mexico are not enough. Joint task forces between United States security agencies and Customs was vital. Such strategies are helping in the war against drug trafficking and aiding in intelligence sharing between agencies. A joint task force with the Mexican government has facilitated training and joint operations in Mexico against the leading drug cartels. However, the fight has not been easy because of strategies like crippling a cartel especially by invalidating its leader beckons for another leader to be promoted. El Chapo was arrested and jailed for life in the United States and this saw the elevation of his three sons to take up Sinaloa’s Cartel operations. The problem may still lie with Mexico where governments and authorities are entities for sale to the highest bidder. So far law enforcement strategies have been geared towards production controls such as destroying growing grounds, disrupting smuggling operations, arresting high-level traffickers, incarcerating drug retailers and arresting people charged with procession. Therefore, law enforcement strategies against traffickers and producers with the goal of physical restriction against drug supply to consumers and arrest of consumers to deter potential drug use has become unsuccessful (Global Commission on Drug Policy, 2011). Digressing from the notion of seizures, arrests and punishments law enforcement strategies have achieved, a successful outcome may be realized if law enforcement resources can be targeted towards reducing drug-related crime and health/social harm. This will end up securing the health and welfare of American citizens. Curtailing production and distribution of narcotics will still inhibit users who need the product but reducing the users reduces the demand for narcotics.
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References
Gerstein, D. R., & Green, L. W. (1993). Preventing drug abuse: what do we know Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.
Global Commission on Drug Policy. (2011). War on drugs. Report of the Global Commission on Drug Policy. https://www.globalcommissionondrugs.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/GCDP_WaronDrugs_EN.pdf
Rabasa, A., Schnaubelt, C. M., Chalk, P., Farah, D., Midgette, G., & Shatz, H. J. (2017). Counternetwork: countering the expansion of transnational criminal networks . Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation.
